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Apple and other tech giants had better not lean too heavily on Ireland's super-favorable tax environment; at least one big perk is going away. Finance minister Michael Noonan has detailed a new budget that, among other things, will phase out the "double Irish" system that let companies operating in Ireland (including Apple) move their revenue to an Ireland-registered offshore tax haven. As of 2015, companies incorporated in the country will have four years to make sure that they're also tax resident -- that is, they'll pay the same as any other corporation operating on the Emerald Isle.

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appleavoidanceeuEuropeanCommissionfacebookgoogleinvestigationirelandoecdtaxtaxesWed, 15 Oct 2014 10:04:00 -040021|20978434http://www.tuaw.com/2014/09/30/apple-accused-of-receiving-illegal-state-aid-in-ireland/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=TUAW.com&ncid=rss_semi
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Apple's alleged exploitation of a tax ruling in Ireland is getting some attention from the European Commission. In a preliminary finding that labels the treatment the company has been receiving "state aid," Apple and several other large companies, including Google and Microsoft, could see their tax situation in the country change dramatically.

While the company employs thousands of people in the Irish city of Cork, accusations of unlawful tax practices stem from the funneling of money through their operations in Ireland to offshore accounts. This results in a greatly reduced tax burden, and the Irish government has been talking about slamming the door shut on such practices for many months already.

Apple will have a month to gather its argument and present it to the European Commission, though in a statement to Business Insider, the company noted that its tax payments in Ireland have increased tenfold since the launch of the iPhone, asserting that the company has always played by the rules. Unfortunately for Apple, it looks like the rules are the problem this time around.

An EU commission has accused Ireland of granting "state aid" tax breaks to Apple that may break market rules. That was the result of an investigation by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) over Irish deals brokered in 1991 and 2007. It has now asked Ireland to provide more information about its tax arrangements with Apple and other companies, including Fiat and Starbucks. The OECD also looking into Luxembourg and the Netherlands as part of a larger probe to find out if certain EU nations help multinational companies swerve taxes. At 12.5 percent, Ireland has a lower tax rate than any other EU country, and Cupertino's complex tax deals there have been questioned before. As the US Senate saw recently, shuffling money around countries helps Apple avoid nearly $20 million a day in taxes -- and the EU seems to have a dimmer view of its strategy than the SEC did.

Folks looking for crowdfunding in Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Ireland just got a lucky break: Kickstarter is expanding its international reach. Starting today, creators in Ireland and Scandinavia will be able to submit projects to the crowdfunding site. An FAQ on the company's blog lays out the details: The new projects won't go live until October 21st, but they'll be visible to the worldwide Kickstarter community when they do. Like all international projects, pledge amounts will be listed in local currency -- kroners and euros, specifically. Scandinavian and Irish creators can check out the official announcement at the source link below.

What happens on Facebook doesn't just stay on Facebook, and your social network activity can be used against you in a court of law. Trolling, bullying and posting offensive content can all land you in hot water, not to mention that your Facebook history can be used as evidence in all kinds of criminal cases. Currently, even the US Supreme Court is trying to clarify legal accountability of social media. Now, in what's thought to be the first prosecution of its kind, a man in Ireland has been charged with "frape" -- the rather tactless term that describes defacing someone's Facebook page from within their account.

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crimecriminalfacebookfrapefrapingirelandlegalsocialmediasocialnetworkSocialNetworkingWed, 02 Jul 2014 10:24:00 -040021|20923934http://massively.joystiq.com/2014/06/12/zenimax-reduces-eso-customer-support-staff-in-ireland/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Massively&ncid=rss_semi
http://massively.joystiq.com/2014/06/12/zenimax-reduces-eso-customer-support-staff-in-ireland/http://massively.joystiq.com/2014/06/12/zenimax-reduces-eso-customer-support-staff-in-ireland/?utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Massively#commentsThe Connacht Tribune reported earlier this week that ZeniMax, which had established a customer service operation in Galway, Ireland, for The Elder Scrolls Online, has let go "up to 300 workers," apparently temporary, from its Rahoon location.

It's not at all uncommon for MMO studios to let go crunch-time staff after a launch (or when a release is delayed, as ESO's console releases have been), but former employees told the publication that many of the staffers, some hired on short-term contracts of two to six weeks on up to six months in duration, were being terminated significantly earlier than anticipated.

The Tribune suggests there are currently "just over 100 employees at the European customer services centre in the Rahoon Business Park." We have requested more information from ZeniMax and will update accordingly.

Ever wanted to tell the world that you stuck your genitals into a bowl of jam (or vegemite) without compromising your reputation? Secret, the app that lets you anonymously bare your soul to the world has landed in the UK, the Republic of Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. While you're likely to see the odd eye-rolling confession of sexual misconduct, Secret was also the venue that first broke the story that Google's Vic Gundotra was leaving the company. At least when you're caught using the app, you can say that you're hunting around for more of the latter, not contributing that time you were seen doing something unspeakable to a toasted sandwich.

If games, wildlife documentaries and virtual strolls in the park aren't enough to validate virtual reality for you, try this one: educational motivation. School children in Ireland have been using a open source version of Second Life to learn coding, 3D modeling and to create virtual spaces of recent field trips. Their most recent project: recreating the monastery of Clonmacnoise and exploring it with an Oculus Rift. Technically the Rift isn't part of the classroom's normal operations -- the founder of the MissionV virtual reality platform the school is visiting brought it with him on a recent visit -- but it did give the students a new perspective on the world they had built. "Whoa," one student exclaimed, looking at the classroom's recreation of Clonmacnoise's McCarthy Tower. "That is humongous."

After attempts to kickstart its own virtual currency stalled, Facebook may soon get into the business of sending real money between you and your friends. According to The Financial Times, the social network is "only weeks away" from receiving the necessary approval in Ireland to operate its own e-money service. If given the green light, the company could effectively become a financial institution like PayPal (at least in Europe), allowing it to store and send money between millions users all over the continent. Facebook is said to have discussed partnering with at least three London-based firms that offer app-based international money transfers, but has yet to confirm it plans to take responsibility for your funds. With Zuckerberg and co. already facing user trust issues over the social network's use of ads, throwing money into the mix may only complicate matters.

It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get some the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world.

You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the player at the top of the page. The Daily Update has been moved to a new podcast host in the past few days. Current listeners should delete the old podcast subscription and subscribe to the new feed in the iTunes Store here.

The game's Steam community includes a number of discussion threads questioning players' inability to give the game as a gift to others across the globe, locking Russian and Argentinian copies to those regions, as an example. One discussion noted that Ireland-based players were unable to access the game's page, but seemed to find a work-around by being gifted the game from other European countries. The PC version of Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance will launch Thursday, and is currently 20 percent off on Steam until then.

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argentinairelandjp-kellamsKojima-ProductionsKonamimetal-gear-rising-revengeancemetal-gear-solid-risingpcPlatinum-Gamesregion-lockedregionsrussiaSTEAMMon, 06 Jan 2014 18:30:00 -050011|20801555http://www.tuaw.com/2013/10/16/ireland-aims-to-close-tax-loophole-apple-has-exploited/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=TUAW.com&ncid=rss_semi
http://www.tuaw.com/2013/10/16/ireland-aims-to-close-tax-loophole-apple-has-exploited/http://www.tuaw.com/2013/10/16/ireland-aims-to-close-tax-loophole-apple-has-exploited/?utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=TUAW.com#commentsIf the Irish government's plans come together, the tax loophole that Apple, Microsoft, Google and other companies have been using for years will be closed up. Reuters and other news services are reporting that the Irish Government intends to close the loophole, although another will remain.

Last May, a US Senate investigation revealed that Apple had sheltered billions in assets by declaring companies registered in the Irish City of Cork as not tax resident in any country.

Michael Noonan, the Irish Finance Minister declared Tuesday that he was going to make it against Irish law for an Irish-registered company to have no tax domicile anywhere.

Apple and the other companies could still avoid big tax bills by nominating Bermuda, for example, as its tax residence, or any other country that does not charge corporate income tax.

Apple's tax avoidance policies were also defended by some current and past members of the Senate, saying there was nothing illegal in the practice, but Ireland was welcome to change its laws. Now, it appears, that will happen.

The chairman of the Irish parliament's finance committee has led a vote which has decided Apple will not face any questions over its tax practices in the country, according to The Guardian. The Irish Parliament originally agreed to conduct a tax inquiry into Apple's practices in the country after the United States Senate held a similar inquiry into Apple's tax practices last month.

The US Senate inquiry found that in 2011 over two-thirds of Apple's global taxable profits (about US$34 billion) were "earned" by Apple companies registered in Ireland. Those profits came from the United States and other EU nations, but were then routed through Ireland so Apple could take advantage of its special 1 percent corporate tax rate (or less) in the country.

While the Irish parliament's vote may work well for Apple, it's sure to infuriate other countries like the United States, the United Kingdom and other members of the European Union. Not all Irish politicians are happy about the finance committee's decision. As the finance spokesman for the Sinn Fein party, Pearse Doherty, puts it:

"How can we look anybody in the eye out there and defend the type of austerity measures that this government is introducing when we're unwilling to take companies in [before parliament] who are not paying their fair share in this state? It can only be presented as this committee protecting these multinational firms who pay no tax here, who don't employ anybody and who don't pay any tax internationally. I think it makes a mockery out of this committee, an absolute mockery."

Think you're carrying a tad too much debt? Spanish telecom giant Telefónica wants to reduce its red ink to 47 billion euros ($62 billion) by the end of the year, so it's decided to sell its Irish mobile and broadband business to Hutchison Whampoa'sThree for 850 million euros ($1.1 billion). If regulators approve the deal, it'll let Telefónica hack about 750 million euros of debt from its books, while giving Three a 37.5 percent share of the nation's mobile business and a strong number two position behind Vodafone. The deal follows a £200 million ($273 million) sale of Telefónica's fixed phone line business to Sky. Considering the whopping level of debt, though, that may be just the start.

Despite claims to the contrary, Ireland Ambassador Michael Collins this past week penned a letter to US Senators Carl Levin and John McCain exclaiming that Ireland has no special tax deal with Apple.

The letter reads in part:

First, Ireland's tax system is set out in statute - so there is no possibility of individual special tax rates being negotiated for companies. All tax resident companies in Ireland are liable to corporation tax on the chargeable income at the rate of 12.5% on trading income and at 25% on non-trading income. The tax rates attributed to Ireland in the Memorandum appear to be calculated by reference to the companies' entire profits, as if those companies are tax-resident in Ireland. This is despite the fact that the Memorandum clearly states that the companies concerned are not tax-resident in Ireland. The tax rates attributed to Ireland are wrong and misleading.

Second, building on this analysis, the Memorandum refers to Ireland as a "tax haven". As you will be aware, the OECD has identified four key indicators of a tax haven. None of these criteria applies to Ireland.

Understandably, many politicians are upset over Apple and other multinationals leaving billions upon billions of profits overseas. However, in their ostensible effort to paint Apple as the bad guy, they are not only ignoring the tax code which allows Apple to do what it does, but have also gotten a number of key facts wrong.

For instance, Carl Levin initially stated that Apple's operation in Ireland was nothing more than a ghost operation with no employees. Come to find out, Apple actually employs upwards of 4,000 employees in Ireland.

Records obtained by the subcommittee clearly reflect that, for years, Apple paid Irish tax authorities a nominal rate, far below Ireland's statutory rate of 12.5 percent, on trading income. Testimony by key Apple executives, including CEO Tim Cook and Head of Tax Operations Phillip Bullock, corroborates that Apple had a special arrangement with the Irish government that, since 2003, resulted in an effective tax rate of 2 percent or less. Most reasonable people would agree that negotiating special tax arrangements that allow companies to pay little or no income tax meets a common-sense definition of a tax haven.

Well, this clearly isn't a topic that's going to die down anytime soon. Note, though, that until Congress changes the law in some regard, Apple will continue to keep its $100 billion cash hoard overseas.

Summer is the prime season for European cyclists, whether they're racing the Tour de France or just embarking on voyages of self-discovery. It's a good thing, then, that Google Maps' biking directions have reached six more European countries. Those in France, Ireland, Germany, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg and Poland can now plot pedal-friendly routes using their phones and the web. Google may miss a hidden trail or two when it's crowdsourcing the data through Map Maker, but the upgrade should still help riders avoid the inevitable crush of tourist traffic.

Ireland has responded to criticism from Senater Carl Levin (D-Mich.) that Irish tax laws allowed Apple to avoid playing taxes on tens of billions of dollars in profits using Irish subsidiaries. So what did Ireland have to say for itself?

These are not issues that arise from the Irish taxation system. They are issues that arise from the taxation systems in other jurisdictions, and that is an issue that has to be addressed first of all in those jurisdictions.

Ireland's answer is simple. If American companies like Apple are using loopholes in the American tax system to skirt playing their taxes, it's not Ireland's fault, and we should fix our system before we come after theirs. It's a good point.

The issue isn't that Ireland provided a safe haven for Apple to hide profits. It's that American tax law is so convoluted and full of loopholes that American companies like Apple can enjoy all the benefits of being an American company while paying a fraction of the taxes our laws say they own.

It will be interesting to see if these hearings will simply be an attempt to shame the company for tax avoidance, or if it will finally be the catalyst for closing the massive web of loopholes that make up the country's tax system.

The Irish Defence Minister, Alan Shatter, has put forward a law that would give his government the right to cut off mobile services "in a limited area" to prevent a bombing. In particular, he fears that militant groups may attack next month's G8 summit in Northern Ireland to "garner publicity," and that they may try to detonate explosives remotely using phone signals. Ireland already has a voluntary system for requesting operators to suspend services if there's a threat, but the new legislation would make this compulsory, in case the authorities should face any "difficulty in getting a telecom company in an emergency to cooperate." The idea of deliberate blackouts may sound strange, at least outside of oppressed nations like Egypt and Syria, but Shatter says the Boston Marathon bombing, which possibly also involved cellphones as detonators, proves that such measures are necessary.

Netflix scored a big coup with its semi-exclusive Disney deal late last year, but the newly expanded content didn't reach everybody in one shot -- just ask the British and Irish, who've been left high and dry so far. To viewers' relief, the companies have mended that gap with immediate availability of Disney and Disney-Pixar movies in Ireland and the UK. The initial mix includes not-quite-recent movies like Wall-E as well as back-catalog classics like The Aristocats; the months ahead will see Netflix' selection catch up slightly by introducing the most recent Pirates of the Caribbean movie, among other titles. Combined with the upcoming additions of some DreamWorks and Marvel movies, the Disney pact should hopefully keep the kids (and, we'll admit, ourselves) entertained just as the summer is about to start.

Google has been on something of a tear spreading its Google Playmedia services around the world; don't look now, but it's picking up the pace. The search giant is expanding Google Play Music today to cover Australia, Austria, Belgium, Ireland, Luxembourg, New Zealand and Portugal. That small deluge of new countries can now shop for their favorite tunes as well as store up to 20,000 of them online for streaming, either on the web or on Android devices. Large swaths of the world remain uncovered by the service -- ahem, Canada -- but we'll still welcome a big step toward cloud music for everyone.

After landing itself in hot water with the Irish Data Protection Commissioner (DPC) and Hamburg's Data Protection Authority (DPA), Facebook has deleted all of its European photo tagging facial recognition data. After reviewing the company's source code and deletion process, DPC spokesperson Ciara O'Sullivan confirmed today that the regulatory agency was satisfied with the social network's compliance. Additional removal confirmation came from Hamburg's DPC's technical department, which also reviewed the firm's software to ensure that its standards were met. In a recent comment to CFO World, a Facebook spokesperson confirmed that the data had been deleted and that the social network has no plans to reinstate facial recognition software in Europe anytime soon. No word on whether Facebook will now purchase sadface.com for... oh, $80 million or so.

Intel has been planning to make its Ireland base one of three global manufacturing sites for its 14nm chips since May last year, and its now been given the okay by Ireland's lead planning agency. The new $4 billion plant will create around 4,300 jobs for the region in Co. Kildare, where Intel already has around 4,000 on staff. The two-year plan involves redeveloping its existing operation, expanding and shifting to make its smaller, more efficient 14nm process. Intel's plans don't stop there, however. It still plans to roll out 10nm products sometime in 2015.

The Irish government has announced that it will be dropping support for Blackberrys in favor of iPhones and Android devices, according to SiliconRepublic. The move affects Teachta Dála's (TD's) in the lower house of the Oireachtas (the Irish Parliament). The government has decided that it's no longer cost effective to maintain Blackberry support. According to SiliconRepublic:

One of the reasons Blackberry support is being dropped is the Oireachtas ICT unit no longer wishes to pay to keep a BlackBerry Enterprise Server running when no such server is required for Android or iPhone devices.

"The provision of support for BlackBerrys carries the additional cost of two separate servers, power, cooling, administration and annual support," the spokesperson explained.

In another change up, the Irish government is also initiating a program where it will buy iPads wholesale and then allow TD's who wish to use the devices to refund the cost to the Oireachtas. Originally the Oireachtas planned to purchase the iPads outright and distribute them to its members, but because of budgetary constraints, the governing body has now decided that members who want them must pay the government back for them.

Purchasing all new iPads, however, is a budget-cutting move, reports SR:

One of the reasons the Oireachtas Commission appears determined to pursue the rollout of iPads is a 'print on demand' strategy with respect to parliamentary documents.

An Oireachtas Commission spokesperson confirmed the move was part of a strategy to reduce print production costs throughout Leinster House.

The idea is that instead of every office or department having printers, a smaller number of strategically located printers around Leinster House and Dail Eireann will be able to detect a member's iPad via Apple's AirPrint wireless technology and print a document from the iPad.

Ireland follows in the footsteps of other governments around the world, including in the UK, Uganda, and the US.

Hot on the heels of a deal for Canada, Netflix and Warner Bros. have spread their newfound affection for each other to a multi-year, exclusive agreement for Ireland and the UK. Both island nations are getting streaming access to past seasons of four Warner-distributed TV shows, with availability staggered over the next several months. The Vampire Diaries is first out of the gate, with three seasons coming to Netflix on December 1st; five seasons of Gossip Girl follow on March 1st, while less definite schedules have all of Chuck and four seasons of Fringe appearing sometime in 2013. The arrangement isn't quite as ideal as it would be if episodes appeared as they aired, but it's a welcome expansion for a young regional service that's still locked in a battle for supremacy.

The dust has settled after Ireland's recent spectrum auction, and wouldn't you know it, Vodafone, O2, Meteor and Three have picked up a combined 140MHz of paired spectrum across the 800, 900 and 1800MHz bands. According to the country's regulator, ComReg, the auction will effectively double the spectrum available in these bands and will allow for LTE deployment across Éire. For its part, O2 has committed to begin its 4G rollout in the first half of 2013. To ensure quick deployment, all license holders are required to make their new spectrum available to 70 percent of Ireland's population within three years. In all, the companies will pay €855 million ($1.09 billion) for spectrum rights until 2030, of which, €482 million is payable up front. Curiously enough, the country's 800MHz spectrum was freed up just last month after its analog shutoff. To find a complete breakdown of the situation, feel free to hit up the announcement from ComReg at the source link below.